Fastener setting dies



Dec. 19, 1961 M. J. CARPINELLA 3,013,271

FASTENER SETTING DIES Filed Dec. 19. 1960 INVENTOR Michael J Carpinellq TTORNEY United States Patent 3,013,271 FASTENER SETTING DIES Michael J. Carpinella, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Dec. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 76,797 4 Claims. (Cl. 1--317) This invention relates to a fastener attaching means, and particularly to a setting die for attaching a socket member to a garment support, the socket member being of the type shown in the Fenton Patent 2,724,162.

In the manufacture of the above type of snap fastener sockets, there is always the possibility that certain portions of the socket fingers may be somewhat misshaped or deformed so they do not meet standard requirements. This deformation may be in the form of twisted fingers, improperly rolled beads, variation in sizes, etc-any of which will produce an undesirable snap action with the mating stud member. There is also the problem of small burrs which occur on the cut edges of the spring fingers, as well as tiny chips of metal which sometimes become wedged between the resilient fingers, thereby restricting their normal movement.

Another difficulty encountered is the variation of the snap action of the resilient fingers of the socket in the initial engagement with a stud member. It has been found that the first flexing of the resilient fingers is sometimes so stiff that it is very hard to engage a stud with the socket, yet the second flexing produces a normal snap action.

One of the purposes of my setting die is to reshape any malformed elements of the snap fastener socket coincident with the setting operation.

Another object of my invention is to smooth down or knock off any burrs that may exist and also to provide a sizing operation for the fingers.

A further object of my invention is to flex the resilient fingers to reduce their initial stiffness, thereby rendering them more workable for the first attachment to their complementary stud member. This flexing action also tends to loosen any chips caught between the fingers.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

FiG. 1 is a sectional view of the dies and fastener elements as they appear before the setting operation;

FIG. 2 is a similar view showing the dies in the initial state of the fastener assembly operation;

FIG. 3 is a similar view with the dies positioned in the final state of the fastener assembly; and,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a socket member.

In the operation of setting fastener elements upon a garment, or a support member, two dies are requiredan upper die and a lower die 11. The upper die 10 here disclosed, forms the subject matter of the present invention and consists of a center punch 12 and a surrounding anvil sleeve 13 which may be carried by the plunger of a conventional fastener setting machine (not shown).

The punch 12 has a sliding fit within the lower portion of the sleeve 13 and is formed with an enlarged head 14 at its upper end, the undersurface of which is normally abutted against a shoulder 15 provided on the inner wall of the said sleeve. The punch head 14 is held against said shoulder by a relatively heavy coil spring 16 confined within the hollow of the sleeve 13.

One type of fastener member on which the upper and lower dies are adapted to operate consists of a socket member 17 and an attaching prong ring 18 having a series of upwardly projecting prongs 19. The socket member "ice 17 is provided with the usual spring fingers 20 terminating in rolled beads 21 of arcuate shape, arranged in a circular formation around the socket opening. Surround ing the fingers is a prong deflecting anvil portion 22 terlminating in 3. rolled rim 23. In accordance with the Fenton patent, the anvil portion 22 may be formed with radial ribs 24 as shown in FIG. 4 and are shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 with the sectional view taken through the longitudinal mid-portion of said ribs.

As pointed out in the objects, there is always the possibility that the socket fingers may be malformed during manufacture. One example of such malformation is shown in FIG. 4 wherein one of the fingers 20a may be twisted so that the terminal circular bead 21 will not lie in the normal circular formation around the socket openmg.

Considering now the details of the tools for correcting any malformed portion of the socket member during the fastener setting operation, the center punch 12 is formed with a downwardly projecting sizing pin 25 that has tapering sidewalls so dimensioned that as the pin enters the beaded portion of the socket spring fingers, the latter will be sprung outwardly beyond their normal set position. This initial insertion of the sizing pin 25 into the socket spring fingers will impart a flexing operation to the fingers so as to limber them preliminary to their first engagement with a complementary stud.

At the point where the pin 25 is connected to the punch 12, there is provided an annular recess 26 substantially semi-circular in cross-section that defines a dependent lip 27 at the lower outer edge of the punch with the outer surface of said lip of tapering formation. The recess 26, particularly that portion adjacent the dependent lip 27, is shaped substantially the same as the normal contour of the upper outer surface of the finger beads 21. Should one or more of the resilient fingers be twisted out of the required circular arrangement, as indicated at 20a, the lip surface of the recess 26 will contact the twisted fingers with sufficient pressure to reset said fingers to the proper position within the circular arrangement of the socket opening. This reforming operation of the spring fingers will occur when the punch has descended to the position shown in FIG. 3 wherein the sizing pin 25 is projected its entire length into the socket opening. At this point, the outer tapering surface of the lip 27 will abut the radial ribs 24 on the socket breast and prevent further descent of the punch 12 relative to the spring fingers 20 to prevent any further reforming action by the die recess 26 on said fingers such as might otherwise deform said fingers due to excessive pressure. The anvil sleeve 13 will continue to descend until it abuts the anvil portion 22 of the socket thereby backing it up for the completion of the setting operation. Thus, the prongs 19 of the prong ring 18 will be completely upset within the rim 23 of the socket so that a firm connection will be established between the socket and prong ring on the support material M interposed therebetween.

If one or more of the rolled beads themselves should be misshaped, it will be apparent that the transverse shape of the annular recess 26, which embraces substantially the full outer surface of the heads when the die 12 is in the position of FIG. 3, will serve to straighten out or reform the misshaped rolled beads.

Another function of this tool is to centralize the spring fingers relative to the surrounding surface of the anvil portion of the socket so they will be in co-axial alignment with each other.

All of these various corrections are accomplished during the fastener setting operation, thus the tool serves not only to attach the fastener elements to a support, but also to correct any malformation of the socket and render it satisfactory for its normal working snap action function with a complementary stud.

While one form of the invention is presented herein for the purpose of exemplification, it will be obvious that the invention is susceptible to changes and other structurally modified forms coming equally within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A setting die for snap fastener sockets having resilient central fingers terminating in roiled beads and a surrounding anvil portion, said die comprising a punch having an axially dependent sizing pin and an annular recess surrounding said pin in the lower face of said punch for receiving the rolled beads of said fingers, means on said pin adapted to engage said anvil portion to limit the downward movement of said punch, and a setting die sleeve surrounding said punch and adapted to engage said anvil portion during the setting operation of said socket member upon a support by an attaching prong member.

2. A setting die for snap fastener sockets having resilient central fingers terminating in rolled beads and a surrounding anvil portion, said die comprising a punch having an axially dependent sizing pin and a dependent lip surrounding said pin and defining therebetwecn an annular recess of a contour to substantially embrace the full outer surface of the rolled beads, said lip adapted to engage said anvil portion to limit the downward movement of said punch, and a setting die sleeve surrounding said punch and adapted to engage said anvil portion during the setting operation of said socket member upon a support by an attaching prong member.

3. A setting die for snap fastener sockets having resilient central fingers terminating in rolled beads and a surrounding anvil portion, said die comprising a punch and a setting die sleeve surrounding said punch, said punch being retractable in said sleeve against the influence of a spring confined within said sleeve, said punch having an axially dependent sizing pin and dependent lip surrounding said pin and defining therebetween an annular recess of a contour to substantially embrace the full outer surface of the rolled beads, said die sleeve adapted to engage said anvil portion during the setting operation of said socket member upon a support by an attaching prong member.

4. A setting die for snap fastener sockets having central fingers terminating in rolled beads and a surrounding anvil portion having a series of radial ribs thereon, said die comprising a punch and a setting die sleeve surrounding said punch, said punch being retractable in said sleeve against the influence of a spring confined in said sleeve, said punch having an axially dependent sizing pin and a dependent lip surrounding said pin and defining therebetween an annular recess of a contour to substantially embrace the full outer surface of the rolled beads, said lip adapted to engage the ribs of said anvil portion to limit the stroke of said punch into said socket, said die sleeve adapted to engage said anvil portion during the setting operation of said socket member upon a support by an attaching prong member.

No references cited. 

